Jamal Khashoggi’s Fiancée Sues the Saudi Crown Prince

Jamal Khashoggi One Year Anniversary Event on Capitol Hill (Wikipedia)

Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée Hatice Cengiz, in conjunction with Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), filed a lawsuit against Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for his role in the killing of Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. This lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbiafiled in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia on October 20, also names 28 other high-ranking Saudi officials. This lawsuit pursues justice following the secretive Saudi trial that pinned blame on eight low-level government officials, who are now serving jail time. Michael Eisner and Sarah Leah Whitson, General Counsel and Board member respectively for DAWN, stated that by filing suit in the United States, they “aim to make the actual masterminds pay for their crime here in the United States.”

The murder occurred when Khashoggi was entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, hoping to obtain a document allowing him to marry his fiancée Hatice Cengiz. First, he disappeared. Then, it was revealed that he was brutally attacked, injected, dismembered, and murdered. 

The lawsuit accused Crown Prince Mohammed and many others of a “brutal and brazen crime” and indicated that it was clearly premeditated, necessitating weeks of planning. The lawsuit also asserts that the Saudi Government was informed of Khashoggi’s plan to utilize DAWN, an organization Khashoggi created, to promote and embrace democracy and human rights in Saudi Arabia. The suit additionally alleges that the named defendants “saw Mr. Khashoggi’s actions in the United States as an existential threat.” The argument further asserts that when Mr. Khashoggi entered the consulate in Istanbul, a squad of hitmen was dispatched in a premeditated assassination. 

In its aftermath, his death has had a widespread impact on Saudi Arabia. Many mayors, including those of Los Angeles and Paris, have withdrawn from the Saudi-hosted G20 summit in November. Saudi Arabia failed in its bid to gain a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. Bipartisan legislation has been passed in the United States to declassify a potentially revealing intelligence report. Khashoggi’s death was heard around the world, and DAWN and Hatice Cengiz hope that justice will follow.